ckizer on "Problems with custom theme options"

Hi, i'm trying to add some custom theme options to my theme. I only want one custom theme option right now and that's to control the page title of the home page with my custom post types on it

In my functions.php I have the following

add_action( 'admin_init', 'theme_options_init' );
add_action( 'admin_menu', 'theme_options_add_page' ); 

function theme_options_init(){
 register_setting( 'sample_options', 'sample_theme_options');
} 

function theme_options_add_page() {
 add_theme_page( __( 'Theme Options', 'sampletheme' ), __( 'Theme Options', 'sampletheme' ), 'edit_theme_options', 'theme_options', 'theme_options_do_page' );
} 

function theme_options_do_page() { global $select_options; if ( ! isset( $_REQUEST['settings-updated'] ) ) $_REQUEST['settings-updated'] = false; ?>
<div>
<?php screen_icon(); echo "<h2>". __( 'Custom Theme Options', 'customtheme' ) . "</h2>";
 if ( false !== $_REQUEST['settings-updated'] ) : ?>
<div>
<p><strong><?php _e( 'Options saved', 'customtheme' ); ?></strong></p></div>
<?php endif; ?> 

<form method="post" action="options.php">
<?php settings_fields( 'sample_options' );  

 $options = get_option( 'sample_theme_options' ); ?>
 <table>

<tr valign="top"><th scope="row">
<?php _e( 'Specials Page Title', 'customtheme' ); ?></th>
<td>
<input id="sample_theme_options[special]" type="text" name="sample_theme_options[special]" value="<?php esc_attr_e( $options['special'] ); ?>" />
 </td>
</tr> 

</table> 

<p>
<input type="submit" value="<?php _e( 'Save Options', 'customtheme' ); ?>" />
</p>
</form>
</div>
<?php }

in my header.php I put the following right before </head>
<?php $options = get_option( 'sample_theme_options' ); ?>

On my index.php I have the following above the loop as to not keep looping around with each post.

<h1 class="entry-title"><?php echo $options['special']; ?></h1>

In the dashboard, everything saves as it's supposed to, but on the homepage, nothing shows up between the

<h1 class="entry-title"></h1> tags.

Can someone please advise? This is the first time i've created custom theme options within my theme.